Terms of Service | MatterofTrust.org

1. Acceptance of Terms

Matter of Trust, Inc., (“MofT”, ”we”, or “our”) a nonprofit 501(c)3 public charity is the parent organization for the Matter of Trust Family of programs, platforms, projects and fiscal sponsorships (The MofT Family) providing a suite of services including, but not limited to (The Hair Matters Program, MofT Eco-Industrial Hub (Eco-Hub), MofT Eco-Model Home & Edible Garden (Eco-Home), TheHumSum, GlobalCompostProject, ExcessAccess, Sonoma Food Runners, and Heart of the City Farmers’ Market).

The MofT Family provides online resources, including free gift-item postings, free wish-list postings, matching, volunteering, sponsorship, event calendars, eco-posting, forums, messaging and various email and board posting services, (referred to hereafter as “Sites” and “Services”) subject to the following Terms of Use (“Terms”), which may be updated by The MofT Family from time to time. The MofT Family will provide notice of materially significant changes to the Terms by posting on The MofT Family sites. This document will always show the most updated Terms of Service. By using the Sites and Services in any way, you are agreeing to comply with these Terms and our Privacy Policy. In addition, when using The MofT Family services, you agree to abide by any applicable posted guidelines for all The MofT Family services, which may change from time to time. Should you object to any term or condition of these Terms, any guidelines, or any subsequent modifications thereto or become dissatisfied with The MofT Family in any way, your only recourse is to immediately discontinue use of The MofT Family Sites and Services. We do not knowingly permit child users to register directly with our service without the consent of the parent or school.

2. Content

You understand that all postings, messages, text, files, images, photos, videos, sounds, or other materials (“Content”) posted on, transmitted through, or linked from the Sites and Services are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. More specifically, you are entirely responsible for all Content that you post, email or otherwise make available via the Sites and Services. You understand that The MofT Family does not control, and is not responsible for Content made available through the Sites and Services and that by using the Sites and Services, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise objectionable. Furthermore, The MofT Family sites and Content available through the Services may contain links to other websites, which are completely independent of Matter of Trust, Inc. At The MofT Family, we make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, or authenticity of the information contained in any such site. Your opening of links to external websites is at your own risk. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any Content, that you may not rely on the said Content, and that under no circumstances will The MofT Family be liable in any way for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise made available via the Sites and Services. You acknowledge that The MofT Family does not pre-screen or approve Content, but has the right (but not the obligation) in its sole discretion to refuse, delete, or move any Content that is available via the Sites and Services, for violating the letter or spirit of the Terms or for any other reason. All members agree to abide by all Terms as well as the rules noted on The MofT Family FAQ section. Should you not do so, you will be terminated as a member of The MofT Family Sites and Services.

3.Privacy and Information Disclosure

The MofT Family has established this Privacy Policy to explain to users how their information is collected and used. We will not sell or exchange your personal information at any time. We will collect general information, such as the type of browser you use, the files you request, and the domain name and country from which you request information, to improve our website and better meet your needs. Your use of The MofT Family websites or Services signifies acknowledgment of and agreement to our Privacy Policy. You further acknowledge and agree that The MofT Family may in their sole discretion, preserve or disclose your Content, as well as your information, such as email addresses, IP addresses, timestamps, and other user information, if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: comply with legal process; enforce these Terms; respond to claims that any Content violates the rights of third parties; or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of The MofT Family, its users or the general public.

4.Conduct

You agree not to post, email, or otherwise make available Content:

that impersonates any person or entity, including, but not limited to, a MofT Family employee, or falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity;
that is false, deceptive, misleading, deceitful, misinformative, or constitutes ‘bait and switch’;
that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party, or Content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships;
that constitutes or contains ‘affiliate marketing’, ‘link referral code’, ‘junk mail’, ‘spam’, ‘chain letters’, ‘pyramid schemes’, or unsolicited commercial advertisement;
that constitutes or contains any form of advertising or solicitation if (1) posted in areas of The MofT Family sites; or (2) emailed to The MofT Family users who have requested not to be contacted about other services, products or commercial interests;
that constitutes posting essentially the same item or service under several categories simultaneously;
that includes links to commercial services or websites;
that advertises any illegal services or the sale of any items which is prohibited or restricted by applicable law, including without limitation items the sale of which is prohibited or regulated by law;
that contains software viruses or any other malevolent computer code (malware), files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
that disrupts the normal function of the site via an excessive number of messages (flooding attack) to the Sites and Service, or that otherwise negatively affects other users’ ability to use the Sites and Services; or
that employs misleading email addresses, or forged descriptions or otherwise manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origin of Content transmitted through the Service.

Additionally, you agree not to:

contact anyone who has asked not to be contacted;
‘stalk’ or otherwise harass anyone;
collect personal data about other users for commercial or unlawful purposes;
transmit through the service any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature;
use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data mining tools, or the like to download data from the Service—an exception is made for internet search engines (e.g. Google) and non-commercial public archives (e.g. archive.org) that comply with our robots.txt file;
purposefully post Content in an irrelevant category or city, repeatedly post the same or similar Content or otherwise impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure; or
attempt to gain unauthorized access to The MofT Family computer systems or engage in any activity that disrupts, diminishes the quality of, interferes with the performance of, or impairs the functionality of the Services of The MofT Family websites.

5. No Spam Policy

You understand and agree that sending unsolicited email advertisements to The MofT Family or through The MofT Family computer systems, is expressly prohibited by these Terms. Any unauthorized use of The MofT Family computer systems is a violation of these Terms and certain federal and state laws. Such violations may subject the sender and his or her agents to civil and criminal penalties.

6.Limitations on Service

You acknowledge that The MofT Family may establish limits concerning use of the Sites and Services, including the maximum number of days that Content will be retained by the Sites and Services, the maximum number and size of postings, email messages, or other Content that may be transmitted or stored by the Sites and Services, and the frequency with which you may access the Sites and Services. You agree that The MofT Family has no responsibility or liability for the deletion or failure to store any Content maintained or transmitted by the Service. You acknowledge that The MofT Family reserves the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Sites and Services (or any part thereof) with or without notice and that The MofT Family shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Sites or Services.

7.Termination of Service

You agree that The MofT Family in their sole discretion, has the right (but not the obligation) to delete or deactivate your account, block your email or IP address, or otherwise terminate your access to or use of The MofT Family Sites and Services (or any part thereof), immediately and without notice, and remove and discard any Content within the Sites and Services, for any reason, including, without limitation, if The MofT Family believes that you have acted inconsistently with the letter or spirit of the Terms. Further, you agree that The MofT Family shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Sites or Services. You agree not to attempt to use the Sites or Services after said termination. Sections 2, 4, 6 and 9–13 shall survive termination of these Terms.

8.Dealings with Organizations and Individuals

Your interactions with organizations and/or individuals found on or through The MofT Family including arrangement and delivery of goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and such organizations and/or individuals. You agree that The MofT Family shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings.

If there is a dispute between participants on this site, or between users and any third party, you understand and agree that The MofT Family is under no obligation to become involved. In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users, you hereby release The MofT Family its officers, employees, volunteers, agents and successors in rights from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind or nature, known or unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and/or our service. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code Section 1542, which says: “A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which, if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor.”

9.Logos and Mark Usage (limited to Members using The MofT Family in the United States)

For members using The MofT Family in the United States, you acknowledge and agree not to use The MofT Family logos other than as a sign of Membership to The MofT Family. You also agree not to alter The MofT Family wordmark, The MofT Family logos and URLs and to stop using them when membership status is lost, and to only use the logos in accordance with required guidelines and policies described here. You further acknowledge that as a Member of The MofT Family you may only use the logos and URLs as a sign of Membership in The MofT Family Sites and Services. Should you unsubscribe or cancel your Membership, or should you be removed as a Member, you agree you have no rights to use the logos or URLs.

10.Proprietary Rights

The Service is protected to the maximum extent permitted by copyright and other intellectual property laws and international treaties. Content displayed on or through the Service is protected by copyright, including as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to copyrights laws, and international conventions. Any reproduction, modification, and creation of derivative works from or redistribution of the Sites or the Content is prohibited. Copying or reproducing the Sites or any portion thereof to any other server or location for further reproduction or redistribution is prohibited. You further agree not to reproduce, duplicate or copy Content from the Service, and agree to abide by any and all copyright notices displayed on the Service. You may not decompile or disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise attempt to discover any source code contained in the Service. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree not to reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit for any commercial purposes, any aspect of the Service. To the maximum extent possible, all aspects of The MofT Family sites are copyright 1998–present by Matter of Trust, Inc. Although The MofT Family does not claim ownership of content that its users post, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to The MofT Family an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute said Content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, said Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses (through multiple tiers) of the foregoing. In addition, by posting Content to any public area of the Service, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to The MofT Family an irrevocable, perpetual, exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to limit or otherwise control the reproduction, transmission, deletion, or distribution of Content from the Sites or Services.

11.Disclaimer of Warranties

You agree that use of The MofT Family Sites and Services is entirely at your own risk. The MofT Family Sites and Services are provided on an “as is” or “as available” basis, without any warranties of any kind. All express and implied warranties, including and without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary rights, are expressly disclaimed to the fullest extent permitted by law. To the fullest extent permitted by law, The MofT Family Sites and Services disclaims any warranties for the security, reliability, timeliness, accuracy, and performance of The MofT Family Sites and Services. To the fullest extent permitted by law, The MofT Family disclaims any warranties for other services or goods received through or posted on The MofT Family Sites or the sites or services accessed through any links on The MofT Family. To the fullest extent permitted by law, The MofT Family disclaims any warranties for viruses or other harmful components in connection with The MofT Family Sites and Services. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing disclaimers may not apply to you insofar as they relate to implied warranties.

12.Limitations of Liability

Under no circumstances shall The MofT Family be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or exemplary damages (even if The MofT Family has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from any aspect of your use of The MofT Family Sites or Services, whether the damages arise from use or misuse of The MofT Family Sites or Services, from the inability to use these Sites or Services, or the interruption, suspension, modification, alteration, or termination of The MofT Family Sites and Services. Such limitation shall also apply with respect to damages incurred by reason of other services or products received through or advertised in connection with The MofT Family Sites or Services or any links on The MofT Family Sites, as well as by reason of any information or advice received through or advertised in connection with The MofT Family Sites or Services or any links on The MofT Family Sites. These limitations shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by law. In some jurisdictions, limitations of liability are not permitted. In such jurisdictions, some of the foregoing limitations may not apply to you.

13.Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold The MofT Family, its officers, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns, directors, agents, service providers, suppliers and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney fees and court costs, made by any third party due to or arising out of Content you submit, post or make available through the Service, your use of the Service, your violation of the Terms, your breach of any of the representations and warranties herein, or your violation of any rights of another.

14. General Information

The Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and The MofT Family and govern your use of the Service, superseding any prior agreements between you and The MofT Family. The Terms and the relationship between you and The MofT Family shall be governed by the laws of the States of California, Delaware, and Connecticut without regard to their conflict of law provisions. You and The MofT Family agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within the county of San Francisco. The failure of The MofT Family to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms remain in full force and effect. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to use of the Service or the Terms must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.

15. Feedback

We value hearing from our users and we are interested in ways we can make The MofT Family awesome. We welcome your feedback on this document. Please feel free to write to us mailto:team@matteroftrust.org